While analyzing Mckenzie Canyon Farms’ site plan for a proposed marijuana production and processing facility in northern Deschutes County on May 1, Commissioner Patti Adair’s face reflected great concern. The specific discussion was with regard to noise created by the (county-mandated) 16 odor control fans constructed at the site. “Which way is the wind blowing […]
Jeremy Dickman
Posted inNews
Fear and Loathing of the Marijuana Business is Unjustified
On this joyous and holiest of 420 holidays (well, it’s April 20 as I type this), it’s incumbent on those who believe prohibition to be a mistake to prove to our neighbors that they have little to fear from the growth of the cannabis industry. Anecdotally, police officers will often tell you that dealing with […]
Posted inNews
Don’t forget That Being Anti-Cannabis Pays, Too
For some attorneys in Deschutes County and elsewhere, land-use applications and appeals are an opportunity to fill their calendar with billable hours. In the case of marijuana land-use applications, if a party opposing such a grow has deep enough pockets and vested appeal rights, the lawyer for an appellant may take a “kitchen sink” approach […]
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About Those Benjamins
SAFE Banking Act could help decrease crime
As a one-time partner at a law firm representing cannabis and hemp entrepreneurs, I faced many of the same challenges as my clients. In other law firms, you bill a client monthly, draw from that client’s trust account to cover your expenses and send an invoice to your client. Not so when you’re representing weed […]
Posted inSpecial Issues & Guides
Farm Bill
Puts Hemp on Par with Other Crops
Dec. 12 brought historic news for a relatively new and lucrative agricultural market when the House passed the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018, informally called “the Farm Bill.” As a result of the Farm Bill, hemp, the non-psychoactive version of the cannabis plant, will be removed from the Controlled Substances list, and federal law will […]
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Fair and Impartial?
Applicants test the Deschutes County Board of Commissioners
In a March 6 business meeting, the Deschutes County Board of Commissioners once again heard an appeal of a marijuana farm land-use application. This is the first public hearing regarding an appeal of a marijuana land-use application since it was announced that the Deschutes County Farm Bureau and local industry representatives are appealing the county’s […]
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County Commissioners storm ahead with denials; LUBA showdown looms
Much like the national political climate, in which we’re witnessing a loony, right-wing president drive insane policies to fights in the federal courts, our own right-wing Deschutes Board of County Commissioners may be driving our rural cannabis industry to Salem to seek a change to Deschutes County rules. First, an update to a story we […]
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County Board vs. Marijuana: Axes are grinding
Rookie Deschutes County Commissioner Patti Adair, sworn in last month, got to take her first crack at blocking a marijuana grow land-use permit application during deliberations in a business meeting Jan. 30, alongside Board Chair Phil Henderson. (Commissioner Tony DeBone was not present for the deliberations.) The applicants, who are proposing a grow off of […]
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Lawmakers May Give OLCC Moratorium Power
Not long after the U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon, Billy Williams, warned that overproduction and interstate marijuana trafficking would attract his prosecutorial wrath, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission halted the processing of new recreational marijuana applications. Now, the state legislature may give the OLCC permanent power to issue moratoriums on producer licenses whenever […]
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New Year, New Rules
No bones about it, 2018 was a rough one for the marijuana industry. Wholesale prices for marijuana plummeted and we saw the Oregon Liquor Control Commission halt new-license application processing in June, with no certainty if or when new licensees will get the chance to enter the market. Finally, we witnessed an anti-marijuana zealot elected […]
